Texas' pursuit of Ca. businesses a war of words

California needs a slogan as catchy as “Don’t mess with Texas.” Or maybe that should just be our state motto.

It would be a lesson to all Californians, even a call to arms: We’re not only losing our golden sheen, we’re being outshone by a lone star.

In the ongoing war for businesses that can be the lifeblood of a state’s economy, Texas Gov. Rick Perry helped launch a $24,000, seven-day ad blitz Monday on six California radio stations — from San Diego to the Bay Area.

The ad is airing less than two weeks after Gov. Jerry Brown cheered in his record 11th State of the State speech, “California is back.”

On Tuesday, Brown told reporters who won’t stop asking him about the ad: “It’s not a serious story, guys. It’s not a burp. It’s barely a fart.”

(As an aside, what we really need in this war are bumper stickers boasting, “Our state’s former presidential candidate can beat up yours.” Perry fell short in 2012, but Brown lost in 1976, 1980 and 1992!)

As breezy music swells in the background, Perry begins his new 30-second spot by saying, “Building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible.”

He ends the ad with this line: “Visit texaswideopenforbusiness.com and see why our low taxes, sensible regulations and fair legal system are just the thing to get your business moving to Texas.”

The Californian in me immediately went for sarcasm: How about texaswideopentoridicule.com? Then the traveler in me (whose sister lived in Austin, Texas, for years) thought: Perhaps Perry is right.

“Rick Perry warned many, many times that businesses would flock even faster to Texas if Californians continued down the path of ever-increasing punitive taxes,” she told me. “Why wouldn’t he lure good jobs and businesses? The reason this is a problem is because we (as a state) certainly cannot do that in reverse.”

“Why do you think we can’t?” I asked her.

“Oh, c’mon Matt,” she said. “If we could, we would. I can see the marketing campaign now. ‘Please come here where we penalize businesses from Day One. We have ever-increasing taxes on you if you dare to be profitable. Try it. You will like it.’”

I replied: “You made your point — and probably my column — right there.”

On the other hand, San Diego writer Andy Cohen doesn’t buy Perry’s proclamations.

“How’s that Texas education system coming along?” Cohen asked me facetiously while sharing a link to a story headlined, “Judge Rules Texas Public School Funding System Unconstitutional.”

“Or Texas’ plan to kill research at (the University of Texas)?” Cohen continued while sharing a second story headlined, “A Clash Over the Future of Public Higher Ed.”

“California should be worried, but not just about Texas,” he said. “Also Utah, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada.”

Why those states in particular?

Mendoza ticked off three reasons: taxes, cost of living and fewer business regulations. Then he added, “Many venture capitalists are starting companies in Utah.”

“But how’s the surf in Utah? Or the cuisine?” I didn’t have to ask. “How’s the nation’s No. 1 craft-beer scene?”

I get it. I lived for years in New Hampshire, a state without a sales tax or a personal income tax. People from nearby Taxachusetts used to cross the border for everything from booze to automobiles.

It makes sense that some California businesses might bail in the wake of Proposition 30, which raised the sales tax by ¼ of a cent for four years and income taxes on people who earn more than $250,000 a year for seven years.

But ultimately, those taxes are temporary — at least until state politicians prove me wrong in 2016 and 2019. And relocating a business is anything but temporary.

Then there’s this, unearthed about Texas by journalists at the San Francisco Chronicle: “Yeah, its tax rate is low, but one out of every four residents doesn’t have health insurance. Perry won raves from conservatives for cutting education and social-service funding, but the state is last in the number of high school graduates.

“And ... while Perry has talked up all of the California businesses that have ‘moved’ to Texas, a closer look shows that most of those moves are ‘expansions.’ There’s a difference.”

Mark Cafferty, CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., whose business is getting businesses to consider and stay in San Diego, wasn’t swayed by Perry’s new ad, either.

“He’s regularly saying things like California is not open for business, that it’s hard to start a business here,” Cafferty told the U-T this week. “If it were true, we wouldn’t have 90,000-plus businesses here in San Diego.”